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Before Newly can upload your app to TestFlight, the project needs a connection to your Apple Developer account. You sign in to Apple once, inside the Ship to TestFlight card. After that Newly keeps a publishing key for your Apple team, and each project only has to pick its app. To open the card, ask the agent to “publish to TestFlight”. The full publishing flow is on Ship your iOS app to TestFlight. Before you start:
  • You need to be an organization owner or admin. A member sees “An organization owner or admin must connect Apple and authorize the upload.”
  • You need a saved Newly cloud project, used from a Remote chat. Otherwise the card shows “Publishing requires a saved Newly cloud project.”
  • You need an active Apple Developer Program membership.
Never paste Apple passwords, verification codes or keys into the chat. Enter them only in the card.

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Option 1: Sign in with your Apple ID

This is the default, and the quickest way to connect.
1

Sign in to Apple

Under “Sign in to App Store Connect”, enter your Apple ID email and password, then press Sign in to Apple.
2

Enter the verification code

Apple sends a 6-digit code to your trusted Apple devices. Enter it and press Verify.
3

Choose your Apple team

Under Apple team, pick the team that owns the app. With only one team, Newly picks it for you.
4

Choose the app

Pick an existing app from the list, or choose Create a new app and enter:
  • an app name of up to 30 characters
  • a bundle ID, such as com.yourcompany.yourapp
If Apple returns more than one developer team, pick one under Developer team that owns this app.
5

Connect

Press Connect followed by your app’s name, or Create app on App Store Connect if you chose to create one. Creating one adds a new app to your App Store Connect account. The card shows “Preparing Apple publishing…” while Newly sets things up, then shows your Apple team, your bundle ID and the Send to TestFlight button.

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What Newly creates in your Apple account

When you connect with your Apple ID, Newly sets up everything a TestFlight upload needs:
  • The app record in App Store Connect, if you chose Create a new app.
  • An App Store Connect API key named “Newly” followed by your team or app name. It has the Admin role, so it can access every app in that Apple team. Newly creates it as soon as you sign in and it knows your team, and keeps it so later visits and your other projects need no password. If sign-in stops before Newly has stored it, Newly tries to delete the key.
  • The bundle ID registration, if the bundle ID isn’t registered yet.
  • The capabilities your app uses, turned on for that bundle ID when you publish, so it can be signed. Newly reads them from ios.entitlements in app.json (HealthKit, NFC, Siri and the others Apple lets an API key turn on), and also turns on Push Notifications for expo-notifications, Sign in with Apple for expo-apple-authentication, and Associated Domains for ios.associatedDomains. Newly never turns a capability off. If a build still fails because one is missing, the error names it and offers to turn it on and try again. App Groups, iCloud, Apple Pay and Data Protection need setup Newly can’t do for you, so turn those on for the bundle ID in the Apple Developer portal.
  • An App Store provisioning profile named “Newly app-store” followed by your bundle ID.
  • A distribution certificate. Newly reuses it for all your organization’s apps in the same Apple team, so it doesn’t create a new one for every project.
These appear in your Apple account like any other app, key, profile or certificate. Newly doesn’t offer a way to download the certificates or keys it created.

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Option 2: Use an App Store Connect API key

Choose this if you’d rather not sign in with your Apple ID, or your team manages its own keys.
  1. In the card, press Use an API key instead.
  2. Fill in Bundle ID, Apple team ID, API key ID and Issuer ID. The team ID and key ID are each 10 uppercase letters or digits.
  3. Press Choose private key (.p8) and pick the key file you downloaded from App Store Connect.
  4. Press Connect App Store Connect.
With this option:
  • The app must already exist in App Store Connect with the same bundle ID. Newly doesn’t create it for you.
  • The key needs permission to create signing certificates and provisioning profiles. Newly checks that the key works and can see your app when you connect. It only finds out whether the key can create certificates and profiles when a release runs, so a key without those permissions fails at that point.
On Mac: if choosing the .p8 file shows “Open the cloud publishing card in your browser to select a key.”, open the same chat in the web app at app.newly.app and connect from there. Apple ID sign-in doesn’t ask for a file.
To switch back, press Use Apple sign-in.

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How your Apple details are stored

  • Your Apple password and verification code are used only for that sign-in.
  • The publishing key and signing details are encrypted and used only for publishing.
  • None of it is shown to the agent or copied into your project’s code.
  • The publishing key is kept under your Apple team, so your other projects connect to their app without signing in again. Creating a new app still needs an Apple ID sign-in, because Apple only allows that from a signed-in session.

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Change the app, bundle ID or team

Open the Ship to TestFlight card for the project, press Manage beside your Apple team, then Change Apple settings. Then connect again with either option. The Deploy tab has the same Manage button. You can’t change Apple settings while a release is running. If you try, Newly shows “Wait for the current release before replacing Apple credentials.” Wait for the release to finish, then try again.

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Disconnect Apple

To stop a project publishing to Apple, press Manage beside your Apple team, then Disconnect, then Disconnect again to confirm. Newly deletes that project’s publishing key. Your other projects, the saved key for your Apple team and the team’s signing certificate stay as they are. To have Newly forget the saved key for your Apple team as well, start connecting a project, then press Forget beside the saved key. The next connection signs in to Apple again. Neither step revokes the key at Apple. To revoke it, open App Store Connect, go to Users and Access, then Integrations.

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Signing certificates

Apple allows a team 3 distribution certificates of each type (Apple Distribution and iOS Distribution). If your team is at the limit, the release fails and the card shows “Too many signing certificates” and how many your team has of each type. If Newly could not make a certificate for another reason, it shows “Signing needs attention”. Either way, the card lists your team’s distribution certificates straight away. Each row shows the certificate’s type, its Apple certificate ID (the one App Store Connect shows), when it was created, when it expires, and “Newly signs with this one” for the certificate your Newly organization uses. You have two ways to fix it.
Use this if your team has a certificate it no longer needs.
  1. Press Revoke on that certificate’s row.
  2. Read the warning and press Revoke again to confirm.
Newly then makes a new certificate and starts the build by itself. You don’t need to press anything else.Revoking can’t be undone. Apps already on the App Store aren’t affected, but builds signed with that certificate that aren’t in review yet may be marked invalid, and other build tools that sign with it stop working. Newly can’t tell which certificates your team uses elsewhere, so check with your team first.
If you freed a certificate somewhere else, such as in App Store Connect, press Try again under the list. To see your certificates when nothing has failed, press Manage beside your Apple team, then Manage signing certificates. You can’t change certificates while any release in your organization is running. Newly shows “Wait for active releases in this organization before changing signing certificates.” Wait for it to finish first.

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Connection errors

Your Apple account signed in, but Apple didn’t return a team that can sign apps. Check that the account has an active Apple Developer Program membership and access to Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. Then press Retry team lookup.
Re-enter your current Apple Account email and password, then press Retry Apple sign-in.
Apple needs you to finish something in your account first. Sign in on Apple’s website, finish the prompts, then try again in the card.
Apple refused the new app record without saying which field it objected to. Almost always the app name is already taken on the App Store, or the bundle ID already belongs to another app or team. Change them and retry. If the app already exists in App Store Connect, pick it from the list instead of creating it.
Apple can take up to a minute to start accepting a key it just created. Wait a minute and retry.
That bundle ID is already in use, by another app or another team. Choose one nobody else has, such as com.company.app. If the app already exists in App Store Connect under your team, pick it from the list instead of creating it.
You’re using an API key, and App Store Connect has no app with that bundle ID. Create the app in App Store Connect, or use Apple ID sign-in and choose Create a new app.

Ship your iOS app to TestFlight

Build and upload your app from the chat.

App name, icon, bundle ID and version

How the bundle ID from your Apple connection is used.